Granny Greenteeth and the Noise in the Night

The Comptons ( Jack the Giant Chaser ) design this mildly spooky and rather conventional tale of a haunted house to be humorous rather than spine-tingling. Granny Greenteeth, an imposing personage with flame-orange hair, a purple robe and, of course, green chompers, hears a ``horrible, skin-prickling, hair-raising noise'' coming from beneath her bed one night. She instructs her cat to investigate the sound, but it refuses. Irked, Granny tells her broom to sweep the cat under the bed, then asks the troll in her basement to encourage the broom, and so on. A sequence of events builds as Granny tries to enlist the help of a ghost, a goblin and a dragonlike ``bugaboo''; the tale derives its humor from the notion that nothing under Granny's bed could possibly be as alarming as her Halloweeny housemates. The authors present the potentially frightening menagerie gently, and although the characters can't be called cute, they're not liable to disturb readers. The brightly colored, cartoonish figures are in keeping with the story's happy-go-lucky air. The book's highlight is Granny's soot-colored scaredy cat, whose wide yellow eyes and startled mannerisms indicate its anxiety. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)